A number of Jamaicans have come out in solid defence of the poor interviewing techniques of the Jamaican athletes who participated in the 42nd CARIFTA Games in the Bahamas over the Easter weekend.

The Internet has been flooded with videos of some of the worst examples, and Jamaicans from all over the diaspora have had their say, many poking fun at the youngsters, many of whom appeared out of their depth once they had finished competing, and were asked to explain why they did so well.

Those in defence of the Jamaican athletes have come out swinging and have proffered many reasons why the athletes did not seem so adroit in front of a microphone and responding to what sometimes were simple questions.

Those who were trying to defend the athletes need to rethink their stance. Maybe they missed the interviews with athletes from other nations who had no issues in answering the questions posed to them.

A number of the Jamaican athletes were in their final year of high school and were about to make that next step, either to college, a professional career, maybe in track and field, or to go find jobs.

But based on how they handled the interviews, many are obviously not ready for the next step, and could be in serious trouble. Some of these athletes are from established high schools that have produced outstanding Jamaicans who have never had any problems explaining themselves.

This is not the first time we have had to hold our heads and cringe as journalists approach our young track stars.

For example, in 2002 at the CARIFTA Games held also in the Bahamas and televised live here, we all squirmed in embarrassment at the responses from the athletes.

With the IAAF World Junior Championships approaching three months later, the government and the track and field authorities arranged for lessons for the medal prospects in the hopes of avoiding another fiasco on an ever bigger scale — with not just the region tuning in, but the world this time.

The intervention worked as our athletes, led by the inimitable Usain Bolt, who was introduced to the world with his 200m win, became the youngest ever IAAF global champion then, backed it up with quotable quotes.

But it is not only track and field athletes who have these shortcomings. Football players and cricketers do, as well.

Interestingly, though, we never have those issues when our swimmers, squash players, water polo players, and equestrian athletes, when they are being interviewed.

And it is not all track and field athletes, cricketers or football players either who have the problem in answering questions from journalists. Kingston College’s long/triple jumper Clive Pullen was able to articulate properly why he thought he was robbed of a gold medal in the Bahamas, while we heard good sound bites from some others.

As someone who covers high school sports, including track and field, and on occasion travel overseas to cover these teams, it can be painful at times trying to get a simple answer from some of our athletes. Sometimes dropping standard English and switching to dialect works — sadly not all the while.

We are shortchanging our young people when, as we prepare them for a career in sports, we ignore their basic educational needs.

An education goes much further than any career in sports will. It is hoped that by now our schools would have found a way to combine both.